Ag Food and Resource Economics Summer Experiences

Week 2: Rainy weather at Crop Production Services

Due to the rainy weather this week, I was not able to get many hours in. My job takes place outdoors and our customer base is made up of farmers as well as landscapers, neither of which can do much when there is too much rainfall. However, in the little time I worked this week, I made some mistakes and learned from them.

My position with Crop Production Services did not include much training. I watched some videos for 5 hours on the first day of work, but from there everything has been hands on. I feel as if I was just dumped into the job and forced to learn for myself. As a seasonal position, I understand why this is the case and do not mean to give a negative perspective of the excellent hands on, blue collar experience that Crop Production Service has given me. This position is a great place to start as many upper level managers never experience the lower level positions.

This week I forgot to weigh the anhydrous ammonia tanks twice. The first time, I just had to retrieve it from where I left it by the weight station. The second time this happened, I drove to the drop off location and didn’t realize I had forgotten to weigh it so I had to drive back and pick it up. Since I had to go back anyway to drop off another tank, it wasn’t as big of a problem as it could have been. However, given that I can only drive 25 miles per hour with a trailer attached, it takes about 45 minutes to get to the destination one-way. I basically had to make an extra trip there and back, but I didn’t have a trailer on the way back. To make matters worse, the truck died on my way there with the tank I forgot to weigh. Through all of this, I learned that Crop Production Services relies on weights to determine pricing. This is a mistake that I will not make a third time.

The weather forecast was very important to me this week because it helped me to determine my work schedule. It also showed me just how important the forecast is to farmers and it gave me a new appreciation for what farmers do. It is difficult to schedule around the weather and the weather really affects the ability of farmers to work and thus their ability to make a living.

I learned a lot this week, even though my hours were fewer. Farming can really be complicated by the weather and farmers must watch the forecasts closely. Crop Production Services reduces my hours when the weather is rainy to cut down on their costs. I am learning a lot as I go through this job and I am excited to see what else there is to learn this summer!